Rules of Hell
by Syreaa
Summary: Some time between season four and five, the boys have a little time on their hands. They decide to go on a hunt, but what they find and who they find, surprises them. Reviews appreciated greatly!


Three men sat tied to chairs in the warehouse on Seventh Street. Each man had a family, a wife, perhaps a child named Laura or Bobby. Whether these men were attached to another human being or multiple did not matter at that moment as they sat in the warehouse.

Two women stared at them from across the room. One of the women, presumably the older, was holding a knife and it quite frightened the men who perhaps did or did not have families. The man farthest to the left was trying to get out of his bonds, as he had been for the past few hours. He had a daughter named Laura, and a wife named Sarah, both who lay dead in their bungalow home. But, the man did not know of his beloveds' deaths and so he struggled against the ropes, hoping to get back to the four walls he felt protected him.

The man in the middle was calm. He did not have a wife, or a daughter, but he did have a sister, who was currently living two states a way with a man she wasn't married to. The man's mother wasn't pleased with the situation but he did not care. He knew that he probably wasn't going to make it out of the warehouse and he had spent the last few hours praying to a God he really hoped existed at that moment.

The last man was trying to listen to the women. He did not know what his fate would be, so he decided to spend the time he was tied up to dream about the women. His thoughts will not be elaborated on.

The oldest woman, the one holding the knife that frightened the men, laughed at something the younger one said. She turned to the men and stepped towards them. It was then the middle man noticed she was not wearing shoes. He noted that this was odd, but his thoughts were taken elsewhere when the woman put her finger on his forehead.

The younger woman stayed where she was, but she spoke.

"Zora, don't scare them."

The older woman, presumably named Zora, looked back at the younger woman and then took her finger off of the man's sweat-covered forehead. "Why, Echo, that's my job. And it's going to be yours soon, so watch."

The two men, staring at the once calm man in the middle, began sweating profusely. They did not know what lay ahead of them, but they could tell it would not be a happy fate. The woman presumably known as Echo joined Zora next to the middle man.

Zora's voice was calm, "Tell us your name."

The man swallowed the lump that had gathered in his throat and spit his name from his quivering lips, "M—m—Marcus."

Zora laughed at his fear, bringing her knife up to his cheek. "Marcus. You're quite the handsome man. Do you know why you're here?"

Marcus shook his head but as he did the man to his left shouted at Zora. "Let us go you psycho bitch!"

Zora looked at Echo, "Change of plans." She walked over to the man who had shouted— the one who had a very dead wife and daughter. But he was not thinking of them when he shouted; he was only thinking of himself. "I know your name." Zora smiled a smile she had used for centuries. She saved that smile for special occasions. It was the smile she wore when she told someone that she had killed their loved ones. "Yes, I know your name very well. Your wife was very keen on using it. I must say she made a wonderful test subject for Echo's possession practice. Your daughter didn't know why her mommy was hurting her."

The man's eyes bulged and he had spit flying out of his mouth. He yelled obscenities reserved for the rare times like this, the times a man hoped he never had to face.

Echo stepped towards him and looked into his bloodshot eyes. Her voice was level. "She fought me when I was inside of her body. Told me that she had to live for her husband. I told her she was dying for her husband."

Zora sighed, stepping back. "No, no Echo. You have to be more malicious. Here, repeat after me: she died screaming your name."

"She died screaming your name." Echo paused, then added, "I didn't know you wanted me to be mean to him. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing and get to torturing."

Echo positioned herself in front of the man and pulled a knife from her belt. She knew how to handle a blade; she relished the way it pulled over human skin and the way it could produce so much blood. "Harold, if I heard right from your wife, you might not know why you're here, but in a moment you'll understand." She placed the knife on the man's neck, and he shivered.

"Tell me why you're doing this, please." His lips shook and he was crying.

"Two weeks ago a woman approached you, wearing a necklace like mine. She told you that she could give you anything you wanted, all you had to do in return was give her something in ten years."

He knew who Echo was talking about. "I know the woman."

"Did you take her deal?"

"Yes?"

"What did you ask for?"

"My daughter to be cure of her cancer."

Echo sighed and took the knife from the man's throat. She placed it on his stomach and pushed it in. "I'm sorry."

The other two men proceeded to scream. Zora raised her hand and they both stopped, but not of their own accord. Echo moved to the man in the middle. "Marcus. Did you take her deal?"

Marcus worked to get the words out, "No, I did not."

"Don't lie to me Marcus."

He cried. "Don't kill me!"

She put the blade on his stomach and pushed in.

As she walked to the man on the right, the last man, the man who had only just been dreaming about the two women, the door to the warehouse burst open.

Two brothers, quite pissed off and tired, emerged from the outside. One held a knife and the other held a jug of water. They had been looking for the two women for weeks, tracking them slowly but surely. The tallest one rushed towards them, but Echo raised her hand and he stop, as if struggling against an invisible force.

"Concentrate." Zora said. She flung the shorter, more grumpy looking brother against the wall and yanked the water from his hand.

Echo closed her eyes and the tallest brother was slowly pushed against the wall, next to his counterpart.

Zora did not smile, "Winchesters. We've been looking for you."

"Funny," the older one spat, "we've been looking for you."

"Tell Bobby to come down from the roof, would you? I don't want to be trapped here while you kill us, but I also don't want to kill him."

Crunches on the roof and a thud indicated that the man named Bobby had been thrown down.

Zora sighed, "He can run off, but I don't know where he's going to go."

Echo let out a breath and the tallest brother was released from his bonds. Zora quickly corrected that. "Sorry Zora, I didn't mean to."

"Sam and Dean, you came in at a really bad time, do you think that we could reschedule?"

The one named Sam spat on the ground. "We've been following you for weeks, why are you doing all of this?"  
Zora laughed and brought them closer, setting them down. She pulled two chairs from the side and sat them down. "Yes, it must look strange: reports of black smoke, arbitrary possessions where no one gets hurt, and then a string of murders." She pointed to Echo and smiled, "This is Echo; she was one like the two of you, a hunter. I'm sure you would have appreciated her work; it was much like yours, Sam. Meticulous, well thought out, dedicated to the cause. You see, she got into hunting when her sister was possessed and killed her mother and father. She spent the rest of her life hunting down the demon that had done that. Found it, killed it, and promptly killed herself. Sadly, she found herself in Hell. It doesn't take long for a twisted human soul to become a twisted demon. I took her under my wing, realized how nice it would be to have someone like her by my side."

Sam, who looked at Echo with something akin to sympathy, spoke, "Why are you doing this?"

Echo spoke, "Sam, we're doing it for you. Everything I do, I do for you."

Dean looked at her with disgust, "What?"

"You didn't let me finish, boys. Echo is right. We're on your side. Not in the ways that bitch Ruby was where we're going to double cross you later, but in a new way. You see, management is ashamed of the way a few of our brethren have been conducting business, and we've come to Earth to right their wrongs. I needed someone like Echo who knew how to hunt and kill and fix so that we could right their wrong doings."

"Everything a demon does is wrong." Said Dean.

"We have a set of rules too, Dean. We have to follow certain guidelines or we're hunted." Echo looked at her hands, "I learned that when I first got down there, you two know what it's like, the pain and the suffering. But I survived it and Zora taught me how we live. There are demons on Earth who are making deals with the wrong sort of people, demons who aren't supposed to be up here in the first place who are causing the wrong sort of panic. Our superiors have an agenda and when we don't follow that, we're punished for it."

Sam looked surprised, "Then what's going on?"

Zora smiled, "I'm training Echo, and now we're cleaning up someone's mess."

"Why did you kill those two men and scare the other one into a coma?"

"If a deal is made and our superiors don't like it, or they need the soul now, we find those people and fix it."

Dean, always skeptical, "Why were you looking for us?"

Echo answered that, "I'm a fan."

"A fan?"

Echo smiled, "I'm not as old as you think. I was in Hell for a few years in the human perspective, and it was long enough for me to become what I am. I followed you for a while, and I knew how you hunted. I died four years ago, and I was one of the souls under your blade, Dean."

Dean froze, "No."

"I looked different, I was about nineteen then, with long blonde hair and a scar on my left cheek. I must have spent months with you, Dean."

"If you want your revenge…"

"I've made my peace."

"Then what do you want?"  
"We want you to stop hunting us, and let me train with Zora in peace."

"We can't do that." Sam's voice was sympathetic.

"I can't kill you, Sam Winchester."

"I can't stop hunting you."

Zora shook her head, walked over to the man who was left, passed out on the chair. She stabbed him in the stomach and walked back over to the brothers. "I didn't want it to come to this, but go ahead, exorcise us."

Dean paused, "What?"

"Do it, we'll climb back out of Hell soon enough."

Sam began the exorcism.

Over his words Echo said, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Sammy Winchester."


End file.
